Denver Broncos: Who benefits most from a Drew Lock breakout?
The Denver Broncos are hoping for a breakout season from quarterback Drew Lock. Who benefits the most if he is able to do that?
The Denver Broncos are undoubtedly hoping for a major breakthrough in 2021 from quarterback Drew Lock. That might be the understatement of the year, but it’s also a pretty controversial topic in case you haven’t logged on to Twitter in the last year or so.
No matter what way you slice it, Drew Lock’s 2020 season for the Denver Broncos, on the whole, was simply not good enough play to justify handing him the keys to the offense again in 2021. Even considering all of the outrageous circumstances in 2020 and the players that were missing from the lineup, Lock was expected to play better and, at the very least, hovering around “league average” at the position.
He was only able to do that really over the course of the final six games of the season. In the first half of the year, Lock struggled badly with his decision-making and inconsistent accuracy.
Many fans have pointed to other quarterbacks who have struggled early in their NFL careers as reasons to continue to believe in Lock, while other fans have pointed out that there are far too few quarterbacks who have struggled to the degree that Lock has with eventual success stories.
The reality is, very few quarterbacks entering their first year as a full-time starter have had to deal with the situation Drew Lock did in Denver last year. Whether or not Lock deserves a clean slate is an irrelevant argument because the Denver Broncos sort of gave him one and also sort of didn’t.
Lock isn’t being given a free pass for last year — the Broncos traded for Teddy Bridgewater and are giving him a shot to take Lock’s job from him — but he’s also the incumbent and the team passed on major trades and 2021 NFL Draft prospects like Justin Fields and Mac Jones in favor of the former second-round pick out of Missouri.
If Lock does have a breakout season in 2021, virtually everyone wins, save for a handful of people who seemingly hope he is not the ultimate solution at the position for the team.
Besides Lock himself, who has a chance to benefit the most from a Drew Lock breakout in 2021?